Occurrence of Arsenic Impurities in Organoarsenics and Animal Feeds

Organoarsenics are widely used as excellent feed additives in animal production in the world. Roxarsone (ROX) and arsanilic acid (ASA) are two organoarsenics permitted to be used in China. We collected 146 animal feed samples to investigate the appearance of ROX, ASA, and potential metabolites, including 3-amino-4-hydroxyphenylarsonic acid (3-A-HPA), 4-hydroxyphenylarsonic acid (4-HPA), As(V), As(III), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), and dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) in feeds. The stability of ROX in both ROX additives and animal feeds was also examined. The results show that 25.4% of the 146 animal feeds contained organoarsenics, with average contents of ROX and ASA as 7.0 and 21.2 mg of As/kg, respectively. Unexpectedly, As(III) and MMA frequently occurred as As impurities in feeds bearing organoarsenics, with higher contents than organoarsenics in some samples. 3-A-HPA, 4-HPA, and DMA were not detected in all samples. ROX and As impurities in both ROX additives and feeds stayed unchanged in the shelf life. It suggests that As impurities in animal feeds bearing organoarsenics should generate from the use of organoarsenics containing As impurities. This constitutes the first report of As impurities in organoarsenics.